British Embassy: Ambassador visits Najaf, meets Religious Authority

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A statement by the British Embassy in Iraq assured that the British Ambassador visited Najaf provinces and met the Religious Authority, Basheer al-Najafi, on last week.

A statement by the Embassy cited “The Ambassador made an historic visit to Najaf for a meetingwith Ayatollah Basheer al-Najafi,one of the top Maraji’ in Iraq. This was the first meeting between a member of the Najaf Maraji’ and a UK Ambassador.”

“Whilst in Najaf the Ambassador also visited the Imam Ali Shrine and Kufa University, where he met its President, Dr Yaseen,” the statement continued.

Speaking from Najaf the British Ambassador is quoted as saying in the statement “Najaf is a major centre of learning in Iraq. I was honoured to meet Grand Ayatollah Bashir al Najafi for the first time, and to hear his advice on the future development of relations between the peoples of Iraq and of the UK.”

“With the President and senior faculty of Kufa University I learned more about the existing links with British universities and discussed several specific proposals for taking this forward,” the statement concluded.